Motorola DROID Pro Review

Motorola is up to bat with their most competitive corporate device in years — they’re aiming squarely at the fine boys and girls at RIM — and coupled with the latest Android OS and the nation’s largest voice and data network, they mean business. Does that mean they have come up with the best business-focused handset on Verizon Wireless? How on earth will you be able to choose between a Motorola DROID Pro, a BlackBerry, or another Android handset? Hit the break to find out our thoughts!

HARDWARE

Motorola’s DROID Pro is the first vertically-oriented candybar device with a QWERTY keyboard that we have reviewed, and at first glance, we have to admit that it does look a tad strange. However, once you pick up the phone and start using it, the entire handset makes sense. The Android OS that the DROID Pro runs would be more or less useless for most people if the screen wasn’t vertical, and with the full QWERTY keyboard nestled below it, the entire design makes sense.

In between the small 3.1-inch display and the keyboard sits Android’s default 4 buttons; menu, home, back, and search. They are touch sensitive, and if you’ve ever used a Motorola DROID or similar product, you’ll know what they are all about it. We had no trouble using the keys in our testing of the device and found them to be very responsive.

The device is reasonably sized, decently thin, and mostly attractive to us. A dark-pewter colored glossy front plate blends in well with the black glossy keyboard and display, while a polished platinum-looking bezel houses the power button on top, programmable app button on the right, followed by a volume rocker key and microUSB port on the left side. Completing the device is a black lacquered looking battery cover with signature Motorola Android hump towards the top of the phone in the rear.

SCREEN

Motorola decided to go with a pretty low resolution display on the DROID Pro, and while the screen is reasonably small at 3.1-inch (especially compared to the gargantuan Android devices out there), we would have loved to see a high resolution than 320 x 480. It unfortunately makes a very solidly built and manufactured device feel less expensive than it is. Motorola has been pumping out 800 x 480 resolution displays ever since the original DROID launch over a year ago, and we’d have loved to see something a bit more high end on a device primary focused on the business and corporate crowd.

As far as touch sensitivity and response goes, our results were mixed. Motorola makes good touchscreen displays in our opinion, but we have noticed several irksome quirks on the DROID Pro. The first being that the touch area of the screen doesn’t extend all the way to the edges of the display when you’re using your thumb to quickly navigate. Here is what we mean… with the phone in our hand, using our thumb to swipe across the screen from either left to right or right to left doesn’t get registered by the phone. If we’re extra careful about it and start the swiping motion from more in the middle of the screen, everything works and gets sensed correctly. Not the biggest issue, but especially on a smaller-sized display, we’d have preferred not to change how we normally use a touchscreen just for this specific product.

One more touch issue we noticed was that when scrolling slowly with our thumbs, the phone’s UI will start to literally twitch — it seems like it can’t properly sense where our thumb is and it starts to get confused on where the touch selection is happened from.

Resolution complaints aside, the display itself seems vidid, colorful, and bright. Text could be a bit sharper, and the auto-backlight algorithm could be slightly tweaked as sometimes the phone will dim a little too much in some environments, but all in all, we are reasonably happy with the LCD on here.

KEYBOARD

The Motorola DROID Pro is a direct assault on RIM and their BlackBerry products, and the keyboard is primarily the biggest reason. Comparing it to the latest BlackBerry handset — the Bold 9780 — the resemblance between the two QWERTY keyboards are striking. The keyboard on the BlackBerry 9780 is definitely better, but we think the DROID Pro’s keyboard is good enough.

Both keyboards have the letters Q through P on the first line, both keyboards have the letters A through L on the second line followed by a backspace key, and both keyboards have a shift or alt button and end with an enter button on the third line. Both keyboards have the space bar positioned directly under the V and B keys, and both keyboards have 5 total keys on the last and final row.

RIM’s keyboard layout is slightly curved upwards while the DROID Pro’s is straight, and while it seems that RIM’s keyboard depth is actually less than the Pro’s, RIM’s keyboard feels much better to type on. We wish Motorola would have arranged the numbers on the keyboard in a dialpad arrangement like RIM does

The DROID Pro keyboard, however, fares well in our typing tests, and while it was incredibly firm starting out, after a couple hours of use, it got a bit looser when pressing the keys, and made the typing experience much more enjoyable. We also like the dedicated period, comma, “@” symbol, and voice dictation keys on the Pro’s keyboard. It’s not better than a BlackBerry keyboard, but it’s one of the better Android keyboards we have tested. Due to size, layout, and general feel, and we think this helps makes the product a serious contender to any BlackBerry device in Verizon’s lineup.

PHONE / SPEAKER

When we made our first call with the Motorola DROID Pro, we were positive we had a bum unit. There was no way in our mind that a Motorola product would have such a poor performing ear speaker. The person we were talking to went in and out to the point we couldn’t hear them for seconds at a time, their voice sounded incredibly compressed and digitized, and the actual audio was crackling. Verizon and Motorola kindly swapped out our unit with a new one, and while it’s better, we’re still pretty troubled by the voice performance on the Pro.

The new unit exhibits many of the same problems we found in the original review unit, though it doesn’t suffer from the cutting in and out, which is obviously the biggest problem we had originally. The new unit still has audio through the ear speaker that sounds very compressed and digitized, and it’s extremely odd because of the strengths both Motorola and Verizon have with their devices and products. We have never heard such a poorly performing Motorola handset or device running on Verizon’s incredibly solid voice network. Add in the fact that this is a very business-centric phone, and it’s not too great.

The rear speaker which is used for speakerphone and general audio playback is also not the greatest performing phone speaker we have heard and tested. It also suffers from a compressed / digitized sound when we talked on speakerphone, and the placement of the speaker on the back of the phone isn’t optimal as laying the handset down on a flat surface resulted in a muffled sound experience.

It’s rather disappointing. We realize this isn’t a 100% consumer-focused product, yet audio performance in both ear and rear speakers proved to be some of the worst we’ve used in recent memory.

BATTERY LIFE

We have been through multiple battery cycles with the DROID Pro and battery seems about average for an Android device. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s great, but it should power you through an average day of use in most scenarios. It’s not comparable to a BlackBerry unfortunately, and for a device meant to go head to head with RIM’s consumer and business handsets, this needs to be a major strong point with the Pro.

One problem we have found with Android, not just the Pro, is the standby time. Where a BlackBerry or iPhone can be powered on for days and days, we have had trouble finding an Android device that can match the stamina of standby mode on other handsets. Thankfully Motorola offers an extended battery for the DROID Pro. While the new cell’s require (and come with) a new battery cover, it doesn’t add too much thickness to the handset from what we have been told. If you’re always on the go, we’d definitely recommend picking up the extended battery kit from Verizon Wireless.

CUSTOMIZATIONS

Just like the DROID X and DROID 2, the Pro runs Motorola’s heavily-customized Android UI called BLUR; a mostly scaled down version of the original, and horrendous MOTOBLUR UI. It’s not that the Pro’s UI is bad — or Motorola’s vision of Android is bad — it’s just that compared to the beautiful and pure original DROID handset running stock Android, well, we just don’t care for much else in this day and age. Motorola tries to provide their own integrated messaging and email inbox, their own social networking inbox and service aggregation, and while it’s great in theory, it ends up coming across as confused, un-unified, and kind of a mess.

One of the reasons this isn’t successful is due to the fact that most of the services Motorola tries to integrate on their own, are already supported in Android 2.0 and up in the stock operating system. You end up having two Twitter services, two Facebook services, and so on, and so on.

On the flip side, something good that comes out of Motorola’s customizations are the added security and corporate IT policy support for business users on the DROID Pro. Motorola says that in early 2011, the DROID Pro will be the first Android device with data encryption which is a very big step in terms of security. Additionally, even though it’s small, we really like the fact that Motorola has included the ability to set a time out after the device’s screen turns off. On a non-BLUR Android device, you’re stuck entering your password or PIN each time, regardless of the amount of time that has passed since the handset’s screen has turned off.

THE BOTTOM LINE

It’s rather interesting how our opinions of the Motorola DROID Pro have flip flopped in between us not really considering the handset as a viable choice for an Android business device and us debating whether the DROID Pro could completely wipe out most of RIM’s device sales on Verizon Wireless for the foreseeable short future. After spending a bunch of time with the phone, our feelings are still mixed. On one hand, it’s great to see an Android phone with a portrait orientation and full QWERTY keyboard. It’s a form factor we’ve been waiting for, well, since Android was first announced. On the other hand it’s kind of frustrating to see that that all of the innovating and all of the advancements in manufacturing, processors, memory, software and UI kind of get lost when coupled together in this specific handset.

What makes the DROID Pro reasonably special is the fact that it’s a global phone, and it’s one of the first global Android devices to hit the market. However, with the serious issues in voice calling and issues just plain talking on the phone — the main purpose of a phone, but especially the main purpose of a business handset — it’s very difficult for us to recommend this device to someone looking to depend on it day in and day out. It’s especially tough for us to say that since there are many, many things about the DROID Pro that we love. On almost every level, the DROID Pro outperforms the BlackBerry smartphones that Verizon Wireless carries. Yet, on a BlackBerry, you’re getting not only the best email experience on a mobile device, but a darn good voice calling experience as well.

Our verdict is this: if you’re not married to this particular form factor, and want the flexibility of an Android device, we would suggest testing out the Motorola DROID 2 Global. For an extra $20 you’re getting a much more solid Motorola product, a higher resolution screen, larger keyboard, and of course, global support.

Motos screens are 854 by 400. it makes a bigger difference than you think when it comes to watching movies.

Donny

I like how in this review you compared battery life with blackberry. People claim to get all kinds of crazy battery life on android phones, but unless its sitting in your pocket for the entire 12 hours you up and about during the day it’s dead by dinner time. That is my biggest hate on Android. You either are tethered to an outlet, have a surplus of batteries or are carrying a dead phone.

http://mindmirror007.blogspot.com Sathya

Which Android device have you tested or own? I have a Nexus One, unmodified, and I get about 16hrs usage with medium usage, email, twitter, occasional article reading, voice calls, and I run SIPDroid at least 8 hours. Not sure about your experience!

rando

yeah, i’m with sathya on this one. i have no problem getting all the way through the day with my moto droid (the first one). still, nothing holds a candle to my old blackberry curve (first gen). i had a blackberry tour for a while, and that had battery life comparable to my droid. maybe slightly longer.
i can see how heavy users might have more battery issues than i, but i would certainly not use the phrase “tethered to an outlet.”

Anonymous

Granted, I use my phone pretty lightly (checking gmail, text messages here and there, the occasional compulsive facebook checks), but with CM6 on my TMobile G2, I get ~1.8 days of charge. The “battery left” widget has been running for 2-3 weeks now, it says it’s calibrated to “Accurate”, and it pegs me at 40 hours when I’m topped off.

On the other hand, I had an epic 4G and no matter what I did, I could not get it past 2pm (it went off charger at 9am). YMMV, I guess?

RJ

i have the same problem with my Samsung Fascinate. Just sitting at my desk. It loses 10% or more per hour. My the end of the day, if i haven’t used it any then i will have maybe 40%. If i use it, by the 4pm, i need a charge.

http://twitter.com/NICKVALENTIN0 Nick Valentino

Good review. I still wouldn’t trade my 9780, 9800, 9700 or hell…even my 9300 for it.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BHMB52ZFMATI5KS7D4JT6UU7NA Eric W

That would be awesome if it didn’t have the waste of space keyboard.

http://twitter.com/mfg68 Matt Galo

Upsetting to hear about the ear-speaker issues.

Aaa

Yeah, don’t cry…………

Anonymous

The Droid PRO isn’t meant to watch movies on. It’s not a “multi-media beast”, it’s meant for corporate users on the go sending and replying to messages.

How many people out there actually would watch movies on their Blackberry Bold? Maybe 2% of the market? If you want to watch movies, go to the Droid 2 Global.

Anonymous

Thats no excuse to putting a crappy screen on a high end device…

Retrodude

I need a serious day in and day out business device. Thats BB for me at this time.

I really like the phone comment at the end of the review because for us business guys its still an important part of the phone.

p.mcgee

i ThiNk ThiS f0nE is KeWL aNd i LIke How iT l00ks liKe a BlaCkBeRRy buT i dOnT thInk mY m0m wiLL bUy Me oNe For ChRiStMas, bUt iLL aSk. w00t w00t

kristina

In 2010 how could they expect to sell products with such cheap sounding audio and low screen resolution. Especially, since it has BLUR added as well. Motorola has quite a way to go if it expects to beat Blackberry (or anything) with this form factor.

D.B.Evans

I wanted to like this device; but due to the audio and battery not being up to business-level needs, it looks like I’ll need to wait for a future generation device before Android will be practical for me.

Braden

Really? No mention whatsoever of how completely broken Motorola’s Exchange support is?

It doesn’t push. At least, not reliably. The in-built Froyo mail client is FAR better. Instead you are stuck with the Blur e-mail, which is trash and updates when it feels like it. Sometimes you do get functional push, and then other times you’ll go 4 hours without seeing a message.

Considering that this is a mission-critical need for a “business” phone, this thing is an absolute joke.

I suppose if your company is using Google Apps e-mail (small business) then you’d be good – at least Moto can’t screw up the GMail client with Blur.

corporate

In a review of a “Pro” device, I would like to hear more (something) about corporate e-mail and data – especially if it is being compared to a BB. Does it use officially licensed MS Sync services to access Exchange? If so, does it get calendar, contacts, notes, tasks, etc. or just a subset? Does it need third-party apps to access some of that data like other versions of Android? Did you test remote wipe, remote lock, password enforcement, etc?

Braden

Officially licensed MS Sync services – yes, ActiveSync.

Calendar, Contacts, e-mail: yes
Tasks: I believe so, but there’s no separate task app, so it needs to be on your calendar, IIRC.
Notes – HELL NO. There are very few devices other than Blackberry or WinMo that have notes sync. This is very annoying, as I use notes a lot. :p

Remote wipe – works
Remote lock – Is this an E2010 thing? I don’t remember any option for that in my 2k7 server.
Password enforcement – yes, although there are some limits to it.

This is using a Droid2, but it’s the same software loadout.

Matt

I normally never post anything on these blog sites, but I couldn’t disagree more. If you are a tech nerd or a screen is the most important part of the phone for you, then get an iphone or a different droid. I’m a business man and im not going to be watching movies on this a whole lot. The second point must be the phone you had to review because I use the phone a lot and is actually better quality sound than my BBTour. The battery life is better than any Android I have seen. I can use this phone to text, email and surf the web throughout the day and make it through a full day. I had the droid 2 and I couldn’t stand the keyboard or battery life. Coming from BlackBerry to Android and finally finding a device for business needs, this phone fits.

Anonymous

They still could have put a better screen on it. I use my Samsung Epic 4G for mainly business purposes and its a big upgrade from my Moment.. And the Moment with its AMOLED has a better screen than most Smartphones out

http://rmbo47.myopenid.com/ rmbo47

More of the business users’ apps please. As others have said, where’s the review of email handling?

I pass on this phone. Maybe rev. 2 or rev. 3 will be worth another look.

Bringit

you ugly.

Oye Consolte!

So how about a rating. I’d say 3/10. My iPhone still rocks.

Anonymous

My Epic 4G rocks more..

http://rmbo47.myopenid.com/ rmbo47

Evo 4G FTW!!1!

aj

lol have fun with at&t’s shitty network

Paul

I tested two different Galaxy S variants running 2.1 for about two months earlier this year. Although there was tons to like about those phones and the Android platform itself, my conclusion was Android will not be ready to take over the business world until business email support improves.

Just for example (and off the top of my head), using MS Exchange I was unable to:
a) file messages into folders
b) view / search for emails on the server
c) reschedule calendar invitations from my device
d) do a busy calendar search

All things I’ve been able to do on BlackBerry for the past 3+ years.

I am aware that HTC Sense bundles in some extra support for Exchange which may address some of the above items, but that’s obviously not much help for a non-HTC device.

http://twitter.com/ronhamelin Ron Hamelin

Touchdown for Android meets all of your requirements. All of them. I use it on my Incredible and I can only imagine how great it will be when I get my Pro.

Norms Soiled Underpants

Hellloooooooo. Anyone seen Norm my owner? I need to find him so he can finally get his laundry done. This review by BGR doesn’t hold well for me. Once my owner reads how good this Droid is he’ll drop another log and I’ll have a even bigger brown stripe. HEY BGR STOP WITH THE DROID STORIES.

Anonymous

Seriously if your not already you will be a 40 year old virgin…

Sonya

You do know Norm was/is being sarcastic with all his pro Verizon comments right?

Anonymous

No need to group the numbers on the keyboard like a dial pad. The user is going to use the on screen dial pad to make calls. By running the numbers across the top row like a traditional computer keyboard might also keep Motorola clear of any keyboard patent lawsuits from RIM.

Anonymous

How FUNNY that we have a Droid Pro REVIEW so FAST, yet still NO T-MOBILE G2 nor MYTOUCH 4G Reviews YET!!! I used to love this site but lately it’s been a BUST!!!

You sir are an idiot. Doesn’t matter if they are 2nd or 1st, I just wanna see smartphone reviews from a trusted source before I make a purchase.

Anonymous

Why didn’t the reviewer plug in their GSM card? I can’t be the only one who would like to travel with a single phone instead of needing one for rural areas that were served by Ma Bell and another for areas that were served by Altel.

Jayhammy

Touchdown for Android solves all of the Exchange issues mentioned here. It’s the best $20 I ever spent. Not sure how it compares to the Pro’s email system, but I suspect I’ll stick with Touchdown when I transfer from my Incredible to my new Pro.

Max

Put a fork in RIM, BB Fanboyz. You’ve been wedded to the most outdated piece of hardware forever. Time to grow up, little boys. Turn in your sales job tinker toy and move on to some real technology. “Blackberry does everything I want it to do!”. Really? Then why keep asking for updates on broswers and music and video and media? Go back to your 8703e it did everything you wanted it to back in 2004 including sending that super-secret double-dog-dare email to your wife about how you are bringing home Hungry Howies’. Good thing that was encrypted by RIM-job, eh?

cguella

I never heard of Hungry Howies. Thanks for the tip there is one near me.

Bluegrasslass

I just got the droid pro and I love it. Haven’t had any of the calling or scrolling issues mentioned so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I think it’s great!

Dave

Don’t rush too fast to buy the Droid 2 Global (D2G). I got one a week ago Friday and was already on the second one a week ago tomorrow because it has the same piece of shit audio quality (yes, both of them, the worst I’ve ever heard) talked about with this Droid Pro. For all the ‘promise’ of the D2G phone, it falls way short in that all important (at least for me since it is my business phone that I’m on for a several thousand minutes a month) part of being a PHONE!! It’s also locked up a couple times, rebooted on it’s own a couple times, takes forever (over 10 minutes) to connect up to GoGo Inflight’s WiFi hotspot when others are connecting in seconds, sometimes sees it’s microSD card and sometimes not (and when it doesn’t only sees 1/2 the 16GB card). The third, and final strike is on its way for arrival in the next couple days and if that doesn’t work, ‘ba bye Motorola, hello HTC’.

How soon before the HTC Merge, which reads like it will have a lot of the same features (Android, CDMA + GSM, physical + soft keyboard, sizable display, etc) but not made by a US Company?